A Fire Upon the Deep

Synopses & Reviews

Publisher Comments:

A Fire Upon the Deep is the big, breakout book that fulfills the promise of Vinge's career to date: a gripping tale of galactic war told on a cosmic scale.

Thousands of years hence, many races inhabit a universe where a mind's potential is determined by its location in space, from superintelligent entities in the Transcend, to the limited minds of the Unthinking Depths, where only simple creatures and technology can function. Nobody knows what strange force partitioned space into these "regions of thought," but when the warring Straumli realm use an ancient Transcendent artifact as a weapon, they unwittingly unleash an awesome power that destroys thousands of worlds and enslaves all natural and artificial intelligence.

Fleeing the threat, a family of scientists, including two children, are taken captive by the Tines, an alien race with a harsh medieval culture, and used as pawns in a ruthless power struggle. A rescue mission, not entirely composed of humans, must rescue the children-and a secret that may save the rest of interstellar civilization.

A Fire Upon The Deep is the winner of the 1993 Hugo Award for Best Novel.

Synopsis:

"The author of The Peace War and Marooned in Realtime has created a rarity--a unique blend of hard science, high drama, and superb storytelling" (Library Journal). A rescue mission races against time to save a pair of children being held captive by a medieval lupine race, and recover the weapon that will keep the universe from being changed forever.

Synopsis:

In this popular and widely praised novel, a rescue mission races against time to save a pair of human children being held captive by a medieval lupine race-and to recover the weapon that will keep the universe from being changed forever.

Synopsis:

In 1992 Vernor Vinge amazed the science fiction world with this epic novel of star-spanning adventure. It won the Hugo Award for Best Novel, and has since become a landmark in the field. Now, with the long awaited sequel The Children of the Sky about to be published, we are proud to offer the first-ever trade paperback edition of this big-screen SF classic.

A Fire Upon The Deep is the winner of the 1993 Hugo Award for Best Novel.

Synopsis:

"Fleeing a menace of galactic proportions, a spaceship crashes on an unfamiliar world, leaving the survivors, a pair of children, to the not-so-tender mercies of a medieval, lupine race. Responding to the crippled ship's distress signal, a rescue mission races against time to retrieve the children and recover the weapon they need to prevent the universe from being forever changed."--"Library Journal."

About the Author

Vernor Vinge has won five Hugo Awards, including one for each of his last three novels, A Fire Upon the Deep (1992), A Deepness in the Sky (1999), and Rainbows End (2006). Known for his rigorous hard-science approach to his science fiction, he became an iconic figure among cybernetic scientists with the publication in 1981 of his novella "True Names," which is considered a seminal, visionary work of Internet fiction. His many books also include Marooned in Realtime and The Peace War.

Born in Waukesha, Wisconsin and raised in Central Michigan, Vinge is the son of geographers. Fascinated by science and particularly computers from an early age, he has a Ph.D. in computer science, and taught mathematics and computer science at San Diego State University for thirty years. He has gained a great deal of attention both here and abroad for his theory of the coming machine intelligence Singularity. Sought widely as a speaker to both business and scientific groups, he lives in San Diego, California.

What Our Readers Are Saying

Average customer rating based on 2 comments:

Karla Farley, August 4, 2012 (view all comments by Karla Farley)
This has to be the very best science fiction book I have ever had the pleasure to read. The plot is compelling and well thought out, you can't really tell how it will end until it does! Vernor Vinge can keep you hooked and reading for the entire book, with no urge to put it down and do other things. The characters are well constructed and not perfect, which makes them compelling and intriguing. The antagonist gives me chills as they are interesting, evil and strange all in one, you can't help but want to know more about them and see what they will do. And the setting, the author put a lot of time into creating this universe and he did a very good job. I haven't read anything like it before and I doubt I will read one like it again. I highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys science fiction or is new to the genre, you won't regret it.

R_Emrys, January 6, 2012 (view all comments by R_Emrys)
Stellar worldbuilding, intimate characterization of both humans and aliens, and some of the most mind-blowing ideas in science fiction... this book is wonderful on every level, and my favorite read of 2011.

"Synopsis"
by Ingram,
"The author of The Peace War and Marooned in Realtime has created a rarity--a unique blend of hard science, high drama, and superb storytelling" (Library Journal). A rescue mission races against time to save a pair of children being held captive by a medieval lupine race, and recover the weapon that will keep the universe from being changed forever.

"Synopsis"
by Netread,

In this popular and widely praised novel, a rescue mission races against time to save a pair of human children being held captive by a medieval lupine race-and to recover the weapon that will keep the universe from being changed forever.

"Synopsis"
by Netread,

In 1992 Vernor Vinge amazed the science fiction world with this epic novel of star-spanning adventure. It won the Hugo Award for Best Novel, and has since become a landmark in the field. Now, with the long awaited sequel The Children of the Sky about to be published, we are proud to offer the first-ever trade paperback edition of this big-screen SF classic.

A Fire Upon The Deep is the winner of the 1993 Hugo Award for Best Novel.

"Synopsis"
by Libri,
"Fleeing a menace of galactic proportions, a spaceship crashes on an unfamiliar world, leaving the survivors, a pair of children, to the not-so-tender mercies of a medieval, lupine race. Responding to the crippled ship's distress signal, a rescue mission races against time to retrieve the children and recover the weapon they need to prevent the universe from being forever changed."--"Library Journal."

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